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Film noir is not a clearly defined genre (see here for details on the characteristics). Therefore, the composition of this list may be controversial. To minimize dispute the films included here should preferably feature a footnote linking to a reliable, published source which states that the mentioned film is considered to be a film noir by an expert in this field, e.g.
Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 14 February 2024. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (23 October 2023). "Mission: Impossible 8 Jumps To 2025; A Quiet Place: Day One Goes To Summer In 2024 Theatrical Shake-Up Due To Actors Strike". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 23 October 2023. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (26 April 2024).
Nicholas Christopher, Somewhere in the Night (1997) While many critics refer to film noir as a genre itself, others argue that it can be no such thing. Foster Hirsch defines a genre as determined by "conventions of narrative structure, characterization, theme, and visual design." Hirsch, as one who has taken the position that film noir is a genre, argues that these elements are present "in ...
- United States
- early 1920s – late 1950s
4 days ago · Sunset Boulevard (1950)98%. #5. Critics Consensus: Arguably the greatest movie about Hollywood, Billy Wilder's masterpiece Sunset Boulevard is a tremendously entertaining combination of noir, black comedy, and character study. Synopsis: An aging silent film queen refuses to accept that her stardom has ended.
- Ride The Pink Horse
- They Live by Night
- Gun Crazy
- Thieves’ Highway
- Detour
- Nightmare Alley
- The Asphalt Jungle
- Murder, My Sweet
- The Killing
- The Lady from Shanghai
Film noir movies are often associated with urban spaces like New York and L.A. But many classic noir films are set in rural and small-town spaces. Case in point, Robert Montgomery’s nuanced noir unfolds in the New Mexico border town of San Pablo. Montgomery was a popular actor who made his directorial debut with Lady in the Lake, an adaptation of R...
Couples-on-the-run is one of the staple storylines in Hollywood. Fritz Lang’s second American film, You Only Live Oncefeatured Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney as they run away from an inescapable past. Nicholas Ray’s debut feature also dealt with a similar plotline. A boy-meets-girl love story, criminal element, and fatalistic philosophy are the fami...
Similar to They Live By Night, Gun Crazyis a tale of lovers on the run. But the similarities between both noir films end there. Joseph Lewis’ narrative moves at a breakneck pace and doesn’t have the polished aesthetics and elaborate mise-en-scène of Nicholas Ray. Made on a very low budget, Lewis creates some astounding set-pieces including a bank r...
Jules Dassin has made some amazing film noir classics. Brute Force(1947) and The Naked City(1948) established him as a prominent American auteur. He was also a victim of the infamous Hollywood Blacklist. This pushed him to move to Europe and work there for nearly three decades. He made the classic London noir Night and the City(1950) and the French...
In his 4-star review of Detour, Roger Ebert calls it, “haunting and creepy, an embodiment of the guilty soul of film noir. No one who has seen it has easily forgotten it.” There were plenty of transient B-movie studios that kept popping up in Hollywood between the 1930s and 1950s. These studios were addressed by the slang term ‘Poverty Row’. These ...
Edmund Goulding’s rediscovered and strange film noir is marked by the absence of guns, cops, and gangsters. Yet it’s riddled with cynicism, double-crosses, dark mind games, and seductive chiaroscuro lighting. The film revolves around a traveling carnival. Tyrone Power brilliantly plays the ambitious hustler, Stanton Carlislewho learns the tricks of...
John Huston’s hard-boiled film noir set the template for heist movies. Its stark visuals, snappy dialogues, and rough-hewn characters got deeply ingrained in urban noir films. Based on W.R. Burnett’s novel, Asphalt Junglefollows a crew of men planning a jewelry heist. A team of small-time criminals comes together to work for a criminal genius. The ...
Private eye Philip Marlowewas an impressive creation of Raymond Chandler’s hardboiled fiction. Marloweisn’t ideal hero material, but rather defined by his disillusionment and cynicism. Edward Dmytryk’s Murder, My Sweetmarks the first big-screen adaptation of Chandler’s Marloweseries. Dick Powell plays the central character, who gets hired by an ex-...
Sterling Hayden is cinema’s renowned tough-guy hero. His reputation was cemented by his morally nuanced roles in Asphalt Jungle andJohnny Guitar. When Hayden read the script for The Killinghe immediately wanted to be part of it. The actor was more intrigued when he heard the director is a rookie named Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick had made two independe...
Orson Welles could be one of the most idealized filmmakers. At 23, he created a sensational radio play based on H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. When he was 25, he made Citizen Kane, often cited as one of the finest in film history. But even in the early part of his career, Welles had to constantly fight with producers and studio execs over creat...
Apr 13, 2024 · Lists about that dark, stylish, dramatic, hard-to-define but know-it-when-you-see-it genre that boomed in the 1940s and '50s and still influences moody films and TV series of today. Over 300 filmgoers have voted on the 60+ films on Very Best New Noir Movies. Current Top 3: L.A. Confidential, The Usual Suspects, Seven.
Nov 27, 2020 · Twenty-first century noir. The term film noir may have come to refer to a body of US films made between 1941 and 1958, but it also conjures up a potent blend of cinematic style and dark material that still inspires directors around the world, among them the most formidable names in Hollywood and in arthouse cinema: Nolan, Lynch, Campion, Mann, Ceylan…
